


i've got all this love gathering dust in my house

by newvision



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 05:57:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15879945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newvision/pseuds/newvision
Summary: The moment he’d walked into that little space, so full of love with no one to shower it upon, he knew it was meant for him.He loves that little bakery, and it loves him.





	i've got all this love gathering dust in my house

**Author's Note:**

  * For [softlees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/softlees/gifts).



> for my wonderful, wonderful friend karina. i know this is a little (read: very) late, but it's your birthday and of course you know that this is for you. i hope you enjoy it, and know that you're so, so very loved.

If anyone were to ask Lee Seokmin what it was like to be running a bakery at 25, he’d surely flash them a wide smile before launching into a wholly unexpected breakdown of every single bakery logistic known to man.

 

Not that he doesn’t love it, though. When Little Rain had first come into his hands, it was a split second decision made based off the pull in his gut, the tendency towards open light spilling through a wide window. The moment he’d walked into that little space, so full of love with no one to shower it upon, he knew it was meant for him. 

 

He loves that little bakery, and it loves him.

 

It loves him in the way it lets the light through, even on the darkest of days. Seokmin could come dashing into its’ awnings, his fringe plastered to his forehead, and already the inside of the bakery would be warm and toasty, still smelling faintly of sugar and cinnamon from yesterday’s baking rush. The plants that hang in the window would twinkle raindrops down on him, gently smoothing the crinkles in his clothes, the frown lines that have begun to form on his forehead. It makes his smiles come easier, his shoulders less heavy with the burden of being, of saying goodbye to childhood over and over again with every day that he gets out of bed.

It loves him in the way that it wraps itself around Wonwoo, hands him to Seokmin with a tender embrace unlike anything else in the world. Wonwoo is soft, pliant, leaning into Seokmin’s space with an ease he barely ever exhibits around anyone else - but in the golden lights of Little Rain, Wonwoo is Seokmin’s, too. Away from the screaming of the city and the uncertainty of open fields, the bakery is their space. It exists not because they have loved in it, but because it loves them - loves the two boys who took a chance on a slouching space and turned it into safehaven, a home away from home. 

 

It loves him in a million different ways. Out of the cracks in the floor, four leafed clovers sprout, waving their crowns at Seokmin as he goes about his day, deserving all the luck and life in the world. 

 

Even when he doesn’t see it, even when he feels the bruising burn of metal against his hands and frustrated tears in his eyes, it holds him up. The light bulbs flicker with the sounds of waves, drowning out the din of the world beyond. It lets the waves crash over Seokmin, blanketing him in a impenetrable cocoon, safe. 

 

Now, the gently glinting lights lean down to kiss him, bending over to form a crown of twinkling lights against his dark hair, like a fairytale prince. Once upon a time, there was a prince who felt unloved by his kingdom. That’s the real beginning of this story. It wasn’t always like this. 

 

Once upon a time, the lights shone too brightly. They hurt his eyes. Once upon a time, the clovers in the concrete were just cracks. Once upon a time, the warmth of the kitchens would sear his hands rather than warm his heart. The world was still new, he told himself. It wouldn’t lend itself to being so easily tamed. Not after fighting so long, for all these years. He decides the only way to soften the blow of these things was to shower it in love. After all, isn’t that what everyone wants? To be loved? Even the spaces between the floor, even the broken lightbulb, even the withering air plants - all deserving of love.

 

And so he did. He comes in early every single day, armed with a spray can of water and a heart full of love. He waters the air plants first, who snap appreciatively at him. A few drops seep into the cold, hard center of the floor, and somehow, the seam beneath awakens from its millenia of slumber. For the rest of the day, Seokmin wrestles dough and a nagging frustration, waiting for the day where he too, will be deserving of love.

 

He has a prince of his own. His name is Wonwoo and he is as strong and silent as they come. Initially, he’d taken to sitting at the high tables by the window, preening in the sun like a cat while Seokmin watches in surprised wonder. Everything leans towards Wonwoo, this bright, wonderful boy who seems to hold the world in his eyes, when really, he only sees Seokmin. Of course, Seokmin doesn’t know this. He sees a regular customer who enjoys the space and fills it with a different, denser kind of love. A love like relief. 

 

When Wonwoo finally gets the courage to kiss him, the tips of Seokmin’s ears burn as red as the roses that sit in a bouquet on his display case. 

 

However - there comes a time when the kingdom is shrouded in darkness. Seokmin stands in the bakery alone as thunder rumbles outside, watching Wonwoo’s retreating figure. He’d left with some muttered notion about a project meeting, about submissions, tertiary matters that Seokmin had long ago freed himself from. It comes as a horrible shock, realizing how different he and Wonwoo are. He’s not a prince, like he once thought - he’s a baker’s boy, and Wonwoo is the prince that rules the kingdom. They’ll always be worlds apart, no matter how they try to let their hands touch.

 

With this realization weighing heavy in his head, he’s forgotten that he’s always been a prince. He’s never been anything but a wonderful boy with a love for the world that couldn’t be extinguished, a prince of a different realm than Wonwoo’s. But different doesn’t mean less, different doesn’t mean loss, and he can’t seem to bring himself to face that.

 

Until. Until one day, Seokmin walks into the bakery with his head down, shrouded in darkness. He looks up in horror - is today the day this space finally gives up on him? After so many months of love, is this what it’s come to?

 

And then he’s blinded by the shockwave of light, the frequencies that explode forth and ignite him from the strands of his hair to the tips of his toes. Behind the counter stands Wonwoo, a messily-iced cake in his hands, thrust out in offering. He wears a shy smile and his glasses askew, just like the first time they’d kissed. Beyond him stand the most wonderful parts of Seokmin’s life - Jihoon, his closest friend from business school. Soonyoung, the dance instructor from down the road that often popped in for a pastry. Vernon, the quietly brilliant schoolboy who wanders in aimlessly for a cup of his strongest coffee and a conversation about life beyond planet Earth. 

 

In all his worrying, he’d forgotten his birthday. A day full of love, dedicated to him and him only. It remains to be seen whether he thinks he’s finally deserving of love, between the gentle nudges of friends and a kiss on the forehead from his knight in shining armour - but just because it’s invisible to him doesn’t mean it’s non-existent. His friends shower him with a coating of love that drips down his neck and makes him shiver - although, that could just be the dew of the freshly-sprouted air plants that hang in the window.

  
  



End file.
